From Sky Drive to One Drive, It's More than a Name Change

After loosing a legal dispute Microsoft changed the name of it's cloud storage service SkyDrive to OneDrive. Microsoft has gone through an extensive list of names for it's storage services such as FolderShare, Windows Live Sync, Live Mesh Beta, and Windows Live Mesh. However, OneDrive is more than just a name change. This service includes new features and emphasizes that OneDrive is the one place for all of your content.

The old SkyDrive offered automatic camera uploads from your iOS and Windows phone but now OneDrive is opening up this feature to android users. Anyone who turns on this feature will get an extra 3GB of storage, including existing users. Additionally, anyone who signs up for OneDrive receives 7GB free, and the more friends you invite the more storage you can get. However, they did put a limit on this bonus for a maximum of 5GB.

Microsoft has made some other changes to specific features such as their Office 365 app, a web based collaboration software. The change allows for instant collaboration by letting users see characters others are typing. OneDrive has also decreased uploading time for videos by using something called MPEG-DASH, which allows for high quality streaming. Also, Microsoft is offering monthly payment options for this service which used to be sold yearly. Lastly, to promote OneDrive the first 100,000 customers will be given 100GB of storage for free. How long will Microsoft stay with OneDrive? I guess we will have to wait and see.

Read the article at Mashable.com

Image retrieved from techspot

BlackBerry: No chances of survival.

For BlackBerry, this might be the end.

Keeping up with the bigger brands 

seems almost impossible.

BlackBerry Talking to Google and Samsung About Potential Sale 

When you think of a smartphone, your mind thinks about the Apple iPhone, the Windows phone, and an Android phone. Your mind never thinks about BlackBerry. Today the term "BlackBerry" is only referenced in the textbook as the first company to make email go mobile and as the introduction to smart cellular devices. From there on out, every business professional had a BlackBerry. That is, until the Apple iPhone and Android came around. 

Now the company has been remodeling their mission statement and their products in hope of competing with the top brands. As of late,

BlackBerry is discussing a possible "buy-out," in hopes of selling to Samsung, Google, Cisco Systems, Intel and LG. The response from those companies was not promising. A spokesperson from LG actually denied knowing about the offer. The company recently fired 4,500, about 35% of its workforce, employees and had lost over $1 billion in its second quarter.

CEO of the company, Thorsten Heins, stated, "The rate of innovation is so high in our industry that if you don’t innovate at that speed you can be replaced pretty quickly." Suggesting the BlackBerry will never be able to keep up. What does this mean to the future of the company?

Right now, the only thing going to BlackBerry is its "revolutionizing" appeal, secure messaging system, and its patent collection. The company used to be worth about $100 billion in 2007, now it is nowhere near that amount.

Will BlackBerry be another Palm? Palm came out almost at the same time as the Apple iPhone did. The company was worth over $9 billion when it started up in 2001, then fell behind innovation. Leaving the company worth less than $1.2 billion of which HP ended up buying the company for in 2012.

Iain Gilliot, president of market-strategy consultancy IGR, believes that, when comparing BlackBerry to Palm, "BlackBerry as we know it today is done. But BlackBerry as we used to know it — something's going to live in that form. The thing with BlackBerry is they have two sides to this business. They have 18 million customers using their software — Palm never had that."

What are your thoughts? Is BlackBerry done for good? Or do you think with more innovation of their product, increased research on their target markets needs and wants, or possible technological improvements they could be successful?

                                                                                           Chloe Smith


For more information:
"BlackBerry Talking to Google and Samsung About Potential Sale: Report" http://on.mash.to/1aWE8K5
"BlackBerry Lays Off 4,500 Employees, Loses Nearly $1B In Q2"  http://bit.ly/19yqPCl 
"7 Reasons Why BlackBerry Sucks and You Shouldn't Buy One" http://bit.ly/JVMQwH
"Is BlackBerry done?" http://on.mash.to/18lPu8S